An accord is struck
31 October, 1981 Evening
“Lily! Get the boys and run. I will hold him off as long as I can.” Yells a man with short black locks and glasses while pointing a wand at the front door
The woman nods, an anxious look on her face. She picks her two sons and sprints upstairs.
Sounds of spell fire rage downstairs in the little house in Godric's Hollow. Lily arrives in the room with stars painted on the roof and children's toys strewn about. She places her children in their cots. She places her hands atop the runes carved into the side of the cots. She pushes all the magic she has hoping to any deity that will listen that her children be protected.
With a teary glance she looks towards her darling boys. "Mommy l-loves you, you k-know that." She eventually chokes out. The sound of spell fire begins to get louder and the house shakes with the force of magic being cast. Lily gives a weary look towards the door. She knows that the protections will only do so much, only delay what cannot be stopped. She knows they will only provide a small amount of time before the inevitable. She knows what she has to do. She releases a breath and with that thought in her mind she pulls on the last dregs of her magic and proceeds to cast a ritual.
James, her husband, and all of their group had never believed what the book had said, the books from James Ancestors. It was a book, a grimoire, of spells and history for a family that married into the Potters. The book spoke of partnership being struck with the beings that created everything. The book was the grimoire of Ignotus Peverell. He spoke of being a friend with an entity he named Death. He and his brothers were children when a spell accident had happened that put them closer to their own deaths. They were not going to survive when suddenly a figure appeared before them. It spoke of it watching them and seeing their potential. It afforded them a chance to be saved if they were willing to become his servants. If they would be willing to fix the balance of the world. It said that if they all agreed it would bathe them in its magic and heal them. Afterward he would teach them its unique branch of magic. The brothers had accepted and so they were saved. Their bloodline was intertwined with the entities. They had become servants of what they termed as Death.
The book contained not only Ignotus' stories but also all the spells he was taught which now under ministry law would be termed as dark magic. One of these spells was a payment spell. The user once bathed in the entity's magic could call upon and a wish granted, however the more impossible the wish the more needed to be sacrificed. She herself could not make a wish because her bloodline was not intertwined with the entities, however her beautiful sons were. She had secretly few days after their birth, when she had told James that he should go celebrate with his brothers in all but blood, done the first ritual which would connect her children to the entity. She was at war and knew that she may not outlast it. She did this to give her sons more power, more protections. She never told James of this because she knew that he would not understand. He would see it as dark magic and that it should be destroyed, thinking it would corrupt his sons and make them evil wizards.
She knew differently however. Although the magic had a touch of dark it also had a touch of light. From the diary she knew that although the brothers were servants in the contract they made, they were actually friends with the entity. Everything they did to help the entity helped them in kind. Saving them wherever it could.
"I call upon my once old friend." she spoke the words hoarsely trying to quell her fears and more importantly tears." I beseech you now oh great one to come forward and aid your servant’s helper." The moment the words were past her lips the world greyed. The raging sounds below her now silent and the world around her colourless.
"You are not part of mine bloodline, yet you have married into it. Therefore I heed your call." a deep voice said.
Lily turns sharply to the sound that emanated from behind her. She held back a gasp. Before her now stood a man. The man, although shockingly tall even dwarfing her 6 foot 2 husband, was not an imposing figure. The man wore black formal pants with black formal shoes with a white button-up shirt and a black waistcoat. The man's hair was long and straight reaching down to the middle of his back. The hair looked like it swallowed all the light around it, as if it was a dark abyss. The man's skin was deathly pale and his eyes looked like a starry night lit up by the moon with white irises. He stretched his hands out in a calming motion. He gestured for her to come forward.
Lily comes forward hurriedly "My lord, please help mine. We don't have a lot of time but-"
"You need not worry. I have asked my brother to give us time uninterrupted so that we may speak." interrupted the man before the woman could continue further.
"Thank you for coming to hear my plea, oh great one." replied the relieved woman in a firm voice.
"It is I who should thank you Lily Potter. You have taken your children and bathed them in my magic reawakening my bond with this bloodline once more." the man said grinning calmly.
"Ignotus and his brothers were the first and last whoever truly swore themselves to me. They had died before they could truly pass on my teachings and no one before you ever believed their books. So thank you Lily. Now, let me hear this plea." He gestures for her to speak.
"Great one, a mad man has just broken into our house and my husband is doing all he can to hold him off but I fear we won't be able to survive. I ask please save my children. You saved Ignotus and his brothers, surely you can save my Hadrian and Jacob." pleads Lily.
The man gives a sad shake of his head "I would if I could. It has been long since any of this world remembered myself and my family. We are weaker now because of this."
Lily with a heartbroken expression tears flowing down her elegant face "Plee-ase I-I wou-uld d-do any-anything. I would-d sac-acri-fice anything." Crying openly but with a look of fire in her eyes. Lily brings her hands to her face trying to hide her tears from this cruel and harsh reality.
The man gives her a solemn look and gives a sigh "There is one way for you to save your sons and defeat this evil for a time, however when you say you will sacrifice anything, do you truly mean it?" The man's gaze bores into her judging her very soul and all that she is worth. "When the Evil enters the room, sacrifice yourself, put your life in bargain for theirs. Your love and sacrifice will be enough for me to save your children from inescapable doom, however by doing this you are swearing your children to me. Before this they were merely believers, now they will be mine true servants. Are you prepared for this?"
Lily's head snaps out of her hands and she looks at the man. She lets out a shaky sigh and nods her head with a determined look. "Thank you. I am." she whispers hoarsely.
The man gives his head a shake once more "No need to thank me, I thank you for being a true mother to your children." and with those words the man sticks out his hand for Lily to shake. "Let us make a deal Lily Potter nee Evans, Consort Lady of house Potter."
Lily straightens her back, standing with all the courage she can muster up, and she places her hand in his. Immediately black as abyss ribbons materialize along their entwined hands. The ribbons then shoot with blinding speed to both her precious children, connecting them to her deal. After a breath she speaks "I accept your deal. Death."
The man gives a small quirk of his mouth the man replies "And I accept your payment Lily Potter" with the words spoken the ribbons fade away as if they had never been there and with that the deal was sealed.
"What happens now?" enquires Lily a solemn look on her face.
"Now you get one last time to hug and kiss your children and although the world is frozen in time, they will hear you." replies Death backing away from her so that she may go to her children in peace.
Lily takes Death's words to heart and goes to her children. She picks up her youngest, Hadrian, and brings him to her chest. He is silent and grey like the world around him. She brings her mouth to his tiny forehead and gives it a kiss. She hugs him close to her. "I don't want to leave you my darling Hadrian." she chokes out. "But if I can save you and your brother, I will do it." with that she places her baby back into his cot and walks towards his brother.
She gives a small watery chuckle upon seeing his tiny frozen face scrunched up and displeased. She slips her hands around him and picks him up. "Hello Jacob. Mommy loves you so very much but your dad and I are going to be gone soon, so I need you to protect your brother in our place. He gets sicker than you and without us there he will need you. You are precious and I will forever love you and I know dad is the same" She lays a kiss upon his forehead and places him in his cot. She turns back to Death and gets his attention. "I am ready." she says softly.
"You are very brave." replies Death.
"No, I just love my children more than I fear you."
"Then it is goodbye for now Lily." And Death fades away bit by bit “I believe you made the correct choice.” With that final sentence Death is no longer present.
She just merely nods her head. The world suddenly regains its colour and the sound which had been silent now roars until suddenly a spell is cast and she hears the thump of a body. She chokes back a cry knowing now that her James is dead. She goes and stands in front of the cots and faces the door to the nursery. Second by agonizing second she waits with bated breath as she hears the evil approach the nursery.
Not even a few moments later does said evil appear. It is a man with fiery red eyes that makes her think of hell fire. He has no nose and appears snake-like. "Move aside, I am only here for the children." he rasps out his eyes glaring into hers.
"Never" she replies fiercely.
“Move aside girl. You need not die.”
“Take me instead but don’t take my darling children.”
“I will say this one last time, girl. You know who I am. You can’t beat me. So step aside girl.”
“Take me instead.”
"So be it." He points his wand at her and takes a breath and shouts "Avada Kedavra." With those words spoken a green light flares out of his wand straight to Lily hitting her in her chest. She falls dead in an instant. The man did not realize that he accepted the bargain. The man walks up to cots stepping over Lily's body. He looks into the cots contemplating who to kill first. With a maniacal grin he levitates one of the babies into the cot with the other. He then points his wands at the two innocent children and speaks with a smile "Avada Kedavra."
The eerie green light shoots out of the man's wand towards the vulnerable children. But at the moment the spell came in contact with the bearer around the cot, the runes on the side glow a pitch black and pure white interchanging, it flung itself back towards the man killing him and turning him into a pile of ashes with only his wand and robes remaining while the bearer shatters and part of its magic striking the two children across their foreheads leaving a Strange Lighting bolt scar. The magic exploded outwards leaving the room destroyed.
The house now lay silent and destroyed. Nothing heard but the quiet whimpers of two sad children looking at their mother’s corpse calling out to her and wondering why she won’t respond. The two boys hold each other’s hands still crying out. A plump man comes in and sees the pile of ash and whimpers knowing that now there is no escape. He grabs the wand that lay on the floor and prepares to finish what his master started. He is startled when he hears a popping sound from outside. He immediately disappears with his own pop. Some time later comes a man with dark greasy hair. He comes forward and cries out seeing the love of his life dead. He cradles her body mourning. He spends minutes there quietly crying ignoring the children. Shocking the man out of his mourning is the sound of a motorbike driving. He gets up and leaves.
Elsewhere nearby
Death stands on the hill overlooking Godric's Hollow. After his deal with Lily he took vigil over the village and more importantly his new servants' now decrepit home. He watches the proceedings with a blank expression from James' and Lily's death to Voldemort's own. To Peter Pettigrew taking Voldemort's wand and finally Severus Snape's mourning of Lily. He watches them all leave only for a motorbike to land and a half giant to get off. The man runs into the house trying to see what he can do. Death watches all of this in silence. He senses a familiar flair of magic behind himself. He turns his head to the approaching figure. Before him stands his twin sister, Life. He hears her soft melody voice.
"You and I both know what Fate has in store for them, brother."
"They are now our servants and I will help them all the way."
"Yes, as if that is not a mystery in its own right." replies Life sardonically.
A frown mars Death's face "You know Fate had this planned."
A laugh escapes from Life "Of course Fate did. He had bound their bloodline so that none after Ignotus and his brothers could be your necromancers and my druids. He said that our servants would be too powerful and tip the balance of the world. So he curses all of Ignotus' books so none of his blood believes them and now strangely this woman is married into the family which reignites tradition." She says with a somber air around her. "I don't envy those children, brother. What they are going to have to face is far out of the reach of most mortals."
"And that is why we accepted them as our servants and why Fate has allowed us. He wants us to help." replies Death "When they are older, we will come to them and give parts of our power and teach them how to be champions. They will stand as light and dark of this world balancing it and protecting it from all that would do it harm."
"Yes we will brother, yes we will." agrees Life.
Together they say in tandem "An accord is struck and our champions are chosen.”
With the oaths complete both retreat from the little village of Godric's Hollow knowing that someday soon they will meet their champions again while said champions are carried away by the half giant and a man with rugged dark hair pops away off to get his own revenge not knowing he has sealed his own fate and that of his godsons.
Later that evening in Surrey
A man with a great long white beard and strange purplish robes stands in the middle of a city Street. He raises what appears to be a lighter and slowly but surely do the lampposts around the street have their light drain into the lighter. The man waits in the darkness as a tabby cat walks up to him. When the cat arrives it transforms into a green robed witch with a stern look on her face.
"Albus, you can't leave the boys with theses, these people" says the woman.
"Now now Minerva they are the last bit of family that the boys have left. It is only right that they go to them and with them here I can erect a powerful ward tied to the love of family and I will need the Potter boys to stay with their aunt and her family." smiles Albus with a twinkle in his eye.
"But Albus they are the worst sort of muggles I have ever seen! I have been watching them just this evening and already they act atrociously. The first years have better manners then they do! Why can't one of the order member's families raise them?" Minerva all but screeches.
Albus gives Minerva a scathing glance "I know what I am doing Minerva and if they are to have the best protection they need to be out of the Wizarding world. It is for the best Minerva. We need to protect them as best we are able. It is what James and Lily would have wanted to do." says Albus.
Minerva has a conflicted look. Is this really the best way to protect them from the remaining death eaters? She gives a sigh and nods "As you say Albus."
She and Albus walk up the street of entirely identical homes until they stop before number 4 Surrey. "Who is bringing the boys?" questions Minerva. Not a moment too soon do both hear the sounds of a motorbike. They both look to the sky to see said motorbike flying through the air driven by a very large man. He lands and gets off the bike carrying two sleeping bundles.
"Poppy looked over the boys and said' nothing was wrong." tells the man as he approaches Albus and Minerva.
"Well done Hagrid. You and Minerva head on back to Hogwarts. I will deliver Harry and Jacob to their aunt." says Albus sweetly.
Hagrid nods, goes back to the back and flies off into the night. Minerva looks apprehensive but the look in Albus' eye tells her that she won't win this argument. She releases a sigh and apparates away leaving Albus alone with the two children. Now with the audience out of the way Albus goes to the home’s doorstep and places down the two children in a basket he transfigured out of a nearby stone. He places a letter on top of the sleeping boys and smiles. Everything will be alright is his last thought as he apparates away.
While the two boys were left to their new relatives, the rest of the Wizarding World celebrated this night, the night two boys were orphaned, as the night they were free from tyranny and that their world was finally free of war.
On the other side there were the followers of the evil lord who despaired and cried out that it was false. Some made plans to secure themselves while others thought that they must go find answers, damn the consequences.
However everyone had forgotten about the little family in Godric’s Hollow and the now orphaned boys.
1982 Surrey Dursley’s Household
By the time the two boys were too big to fit in their lone cot the two of them were placed in the cupboard under the stairs while their cousin was given two rooms. One a playroom and the other one another playroom but merely with a bed.
The two boys were left alone most of the day and were only allowed out at certain times to relieve themselves. When needing to eat the two were given the remaining scraps from when the rest of the family had finished eating.
The brothers although young were far more advanced than those of their age group they could speak many words that they heard the adults around them say. They could have conversations with each other but kept themselves quiet around the adults.
As time passed on the younger of the brothers, Hadrian or Harry to his brother had started to get very sick. He had become very pale and he was unable to do anything. He would tell his aunt and uncle that please they needed to help.
“P-please, h-help him h-h-he c-can’t m-move” the boy, Jacob pleaded.
“Stop this now boy!” shouted the obese man who happened to be his uncle.
“He will be alright so leave us alone!” screech the horse faced woman who had the honor of being his aunt.
Trying to control the stutter in his voice and the fear in his heart he speaks “Please, please. I will do anything, just help him.”
The man, Vernon, merely growls and grabs Jacob by his shirts and drags him towards his cupboard.
“Please, no he won’t survive. I hate you. I hate you! Let me go!” Screams Jacob trying futilely to get out of the Vernon’s grip.
“Why you little brat!” Vernon shouts.
He opens the door of the cupboard and throws Jacob into the darkness. He shuts the door. “No food. For a week!” says the man and with that the family returns to the sitting room to enjoy an evening of Tellie having already forgotten about the two boys.
Jacob crawls forward banging the door whispering “N-no, I-I h-hate you. I-I w-will g-get you f-for th-this -”
His sentence is interrupted by a wheeze. He turns sharply to look at his brother lying on the floor. He can barely make him out but they have been in this dark place for so long that they can see somewhat.
He goes to his brother sitting down and pulling him into his lap and hugging him tight. The body in his arms gives no reaction to these actions. “Please whoever is out there help us. Help him.”
Jacob looks around to see if anything has change and gives out a cry when nothing changes. He lays his brother down and closes his eyes and wishes as hard as he can that Harry will get better that Harry will survive.
“AHh”
He snaps his eyes open to look down to see his brother is breathing easier again, but what is more shocking is that his hands glow with a soft pale white light. The light slowly starts to envelope his brother and slowly the paleness of his brother’s face starts to disappear.
He cries out in joy only to despair because at the moment he no longer focuses on his brother the light stops. He feels tired and wants to sleep, but he knows he can’t. He can save his brother, he has power and he just needs to stay awake.
Puts his hands back on Harry and wishes again but nothing happens. Tears start to leak out of his eyes. No I can’t fail now, not when I have the power to save him. He tries again and again getting more and more tired until eventually before he even realizes it that he fell asleep.
The Next Morning
Jacobs wakes up slowly not really remembering what happened before. He blinks his eyes slowly looking around in the dark wondering what was going on. After a moment he realizes that there is a body lying on his arm and chest. He looks towards to see his sleeping brother's face and then it hits him. The night before where the Dursleys abandoned him and Harry, left Harry for dead. These thoughts fill him with rage, anger and hatred towards his so-called family. He remembers the light he wished for and how it healed Harry. He shakes the thoughts from his mind and begins to inspect Harry seeing if there is anything wrong that he needs to bring the light back to heal.
As he jostles Harry in the cramped space of their room he hears coughing interrupting his worrying thoughts. His head snaps to his brother only to see emerald green staring back into his. Harry gives him a weak smile.
“Hey brother-ack” He speaks only to be interrupted by his own cough.
Jacob gives him a relieved smile and then tentatively asks “How are you feeling brother?”
Harry pauses for a moment to think. Judging how sick he feels compared to yesterday which he can only barely remember. He looks his brother in the eye and gives a reassuring smile “I am doing alright. Ack. Still a little tired.”
“That's good but you still need to sleep. I will stay awake and look after you, okay?” Jacob replies tenderly.
“Sure Brother.” Harry replies.
Harry turns onto his side and begins to doze off. Jacob silently listens to his brothers breathing until he knows he has gone to sleep. Once asleep Jacob focuses his thoughts onto what he truly did yesterday. The power he used to heal his brother. Jacob concentrates on the feeling that he felt from yesterday and tries to feel it again. He wishes the light to come again. Nothing happens.
For the rest of the week, while Jacob and Harry were locked away with little to no food, whenever Harry fell asleep Jacob would begin again and again to try and call forth the power he used to save his brother.
Sometimes the light will flicker for a moment and then disappear, but at least Jacob knows that he didn’t imagine the power. He has power. He has a way for him to protect and save his brother.
1985 Surrey Dursley’s Household
Years from that night Jacob never told Harry about his powers. Harry was sweet and innocent and didn’t need to know about his powers but Jacob watched over Harry just to see if he had any powers. He asked random questions, at least random for Harry, about whether or not he had powers.
As the two of them got older, so too did they get bigger even if they were starved and most of the food went to Harry to try and keep him healthy. The two were eventually at the age of four were food into Dudley’s junk, play room with a single broken bed and cupboard and broken toys strewn all about the room.
After two years of non-stop practice Jacob was finally able to call forth his power if only a little bit. He would use his power every night on Harry irrelevant of whether or not Harry was sick. Since he started using his powers on Harry, Harry slept better and when he was sick the symptoms were not as bad and it did not last as long. Jacob would always wake up tired in the morning but he felt that it was worth it to make his brother’s life slightly easier.
With getting older they got a bigger room, they also started to get a list of chores from cleaning the whole house to preparing all the meals to doing everyone’s laundry.
Harry found an escape in cooking, he enjoyed the pleasant feels that ingredients made. He enjoys the little bit of flavour he got from the table scraps left by the Dursleys. The cleaning of the house was not too bad but he did not like how much he had to do.
He also did not like that he and his brother were separated the whole day with one of them doing all the inside work and the other doing all the outside work.
Jacob found solace and peace in gardening. The cultivation of plants, catering to the flowers’ needs and the feeling of success he got from getting difficult plants to flourish. All of this brought him joy.
He too did not like that he was away from his brother but knew that there was nothing he could do but work faster to get to his brother quicker. However Petunia gave him another reason to hate her when she entered his garden as hers and won the street’s yearly gardening competition.
Jacob hated that she used his work as her own but could not bring himself to kill or destroy the plants that he loved so much.
1986 Surrey Dursley’s Household
Starting school had been the hope for the two boys. They had spoken of getting less chores because they had to be at school. Harry thought of the library and all the knowledge he could learn. Jacob thought of the freedom it would bring Harry and him and the chance of getting friends they could play with like Dudley and his gang of bullies. Jacob would never admit that he was jealous of Dudley that he had friends and Jacob did not.
This hope was not to last. The teachers would ignore whenever Dudley and his gang went after him and his brother. Whenever something went wrong that Dudley caused he would blame it on the Potter brothers and the teachers would believe Dudley and refused to hear either of the Potters’ complaints.
When the two would try to make friends Dudley and his gang would charge in and chase away all their potential friends and then later bully them so that they would never come back to the Potters.
So the two Potters were left friendless and lonely at school having everyone turned against them. When at home they were punished and separated only to get a reprieve at night.
Both Harry and Jacob were smart however Harry proved himself to be the most book smart by spending all his free time he could in the library reading all kinds of books from math to English to just simple fiction. The library became a sanctuary for Harry.
However this knowledge did not land up in Harry’s and Jacob’s marks because after the first time he and Jacob were forced to bring their marks home they were both punished because their marks were better than Dudley’s.
The two were shoved into their room for a week and were not allowed in school for a week, Vernon having called the school to say that they were both sick.
As Harry got older he became more and more confused over why his family seemed to hate him and his brother until eventually the bringing of the reports home.
Harry and Jacob came in through the front door and Harry slowly walked towards his uncle Vernon.
“U-uncle Vernon, um, here” showing his report card to uncle Vernon. “The school said that we should show you and Aunt Petunia.”
“I don’t care boy!” shouted Vernon.
Harry shrank back pulling his report back “S-s-sorry U-uncle Vernon.” As Harry was walking back to his brother he heard Petunia asking about Dudley’s report only for her shrill voice to shock both Potters.
“You freaks, lets me see your reports.”
Both Harry and Jacob looked at each other before slowly walking towards Petunia.
“Hurry up!” her voice sounded like glass on a chalkboard.
A few moments later Harry and Jacob had given their reports to Petunia standing silently in front of her while she compared their cards to her son’s.
A near whisper was almost missed by the two Potters “How did you cheat?”
“B-but we didn’t Aunt Petunia.” Harry answered before Jacob could stop him.
“You liars! There is no possible way for you to have beat my darling Dudders without you having cheated. So how did you cheat!” she replies.
Harry shouts desperately trying to get her to listen to him “But we didn’t cheat. You have believe me, please.”
“Vernon, throw them in their room. Now!”
Jacob tries to pull Harry so that he is not hurt but it was too late. Vernon grabs both of their shoulders and drags them up the stairs kicking and screaming only to reach their room open the door and throw them in.
Harry runs for the door trying in vain to get them to believe him only for him to reach the door and have it slammed in his face. Harry falls to the ground crying while Jacob slowly walks to his brother so he can comfort him.
“Wh-why, wh-why w-wo-won’t th-they be-believe m-me?” sobs Harry.
Jacobs has a solemn look on his face before he answers “Because they don’t like us Harry.”
“Bu-bu-but th-they’re ou-our fam-family.” Harry continues to sob.
Jacobs kneels down in front of his younger brother, his sweet innocent brother who does not understand that just because they are related does not mean they will love you, and hugs him placing his head in the crook where his neck and shoulder meet. “Shuu. It’s alright. They might not like you but I baby brother will always love you.”
“Bu-but ca-can’t w-we b-be a-a fa-family wi-with th-them.” he asks with tears streaming down his face onto Jacobs shirt.
Jacob pulls him closer and shakes his head. “I, I don’t think we can, brother.”
“Bu-bu-but th-they’re ou-our fam-family.” He repeats as if that is the answer to all the problems of the world.
Jacob holds him tight not knowing if there is anything he could say that would convince his brother that the Dursleys are bad to them. After a moment with only the sounds of sobbing in the room does Jacob answer his brother.
“They give us a lot of chores and they have locked us away in this room and the cupboard under the stairs for no reason.” Jacob speaks trying to get his brother to understand.
“Bu-but a-all ki-kids ge-get ch-ch-chores fr-rom par-rents.”
“Yes they do but the chores aren’t meant to take us the whole day. We are meant to be kids not servants.”
“Bu-but wh-why do-don’t th-they lo-love u-us?” questions the distraught boy.
“I don’t know. I don’t know brother.” And that is all Jacob can say.